Henley Royal Regatta will be available to view around the world via a live stream in 2015, the Committee of Management of the world-famous Regatta has announced.

All racing will be shown live and a daily highlights show will be available to watch on demand within an hour of the close of each day’s racing from July 1-5.

More than 250 races feature at the Regatta, which includes Olympians and emerging stars from around the world and is renowned for its gladiatorial match-racing.

This year’s coverage will be produced in High Definition and streamed on the Henley Royal Regatta website, on the Henley Royal Regatta Official YouTube channel and will also appear on screens in the Grandstands within the Stewards’ Enclosure.

The Regatta, founded in 1839, is the best-known rowing regatta in the world, and is one of the highlights of the summer sporting and social calendar in the UK, as well as the rowing calendar internationally. It attracts 300, 000 visitors over a five-day period.

A global audience will now have a close-up view of this quintessentially British event, as if they were amongst the packed crowds on the river banks.

The Regatta was last broadcast live in 1968 by the BBC, and highlights of the Regatta were last shown on television by ITV in 1976.

The Committee of Management has been encouraged to re-introduce live coverage in 2015 as a result of advances in production and streaming technology, and strong growth in the appeal of the sport globally has created a wider audience for the Regatta.

Sunset+Vine, a multi-award winning UK Independent TV sports production company and part of the Tinopolis Group, has come through a competitive tender process and will forge a partnership with the Regatta to generate an exciting viewer experience. Michael Cole, one of the most experienced television producers of rowing events in the UK, including the 2012 Olympic Regatta, will be Editorial Director.

This year all races will be streamed live in their entirety from the afternoon of Friday 3rd July through to the finals on Sunday 5th July whilst the start, finish and key moments of all other races will be streamed live when a packed programme means that two races will be on the course at one time.

Sir Steve Redgrave, Chairman of the Royal Regatta, said: “This is a very exciting project in my first year as Chairman. I picked up the baton from my predecessor Mike Sweeney who initiated the project, which is now being led by fellow Regatta Stewards, Neil Chugani and Sir Matthew Pinsent.”

“We have a small team that is now working hard with Sunset+Vine to produce a quality product which will bring the passion and excitement of Henley to a new audience”.

Jeff Foulser, chairman of Sunset+Vine, commented: “We are delighted to have teamed up with Henley Royal Regatta to produce live broadcast coverage of this fantastic sporting event for the first time since 1968. There are not many opportunities to work with such an established, prestigious and well-known sporting event, which still offers a relatively blank canvas in broadcasting terms.

“This is hugely exciting, and we look forward to producing creative and innovative coverage of the event that can help bring the uniquely special experience of racing and spectating at the Regatta to a much wider audience around the world.”